Question Power Control Implementation

[MikaMaslak]

As the key requirement to portiblization is self powering I am at my final problem for my portable build.

I'm studying electrical engineering at Penn State so I have at my disposable all the lab equipment here and currently I've been doing any tests for screen, speakers, system, circuitry, etc. power with an external PSU in a lab.

At this point I would like to move forward with an independent battery power supply so I can move onto a case design with all parts to the working unit considered, but honestly I have no idea where or how to implement a battery/power control that will...

-power all components
-last a decent amount of time
-keep the system online while being charged/unplugged
-give some indication of the charge status.

If any seasoned builders could give me tips to how/where/what they did to get their battery systems optimized I would be very grateful and appreciative.

 

[Herma]

There're a lot of options, it depends on how crazy you wanna go. I'd personally lay out a custom PCB using a dedicated chip from someone like Linear or TI, but that's more than most people would want to do.

Btw, I live near by (Bellefonte) and work as an electrical engineer in the area and for the most part I should be free for consultation.

Edit: Oya, for lasting a long time I'd just do some calculations of current draw (your PSU should give you a current draw measurement when you put the device under load), with that you can pick a proper mAh rating for your batteries.

Go with quality batteries from a decent vendor, as with many things, you (generally) get what you pay for with batteries.